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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26421163">Falling Slowly</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poe29/pseuds/Poe29'>Poe29</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:21:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>755</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26421163</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poe29/pseuds/Poe29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>sometimes falling in love takes a while… like, a long while. A Book of Nile fic starts kinda angsty but descends into fluff.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman, Nile/Booker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Falling Slowly</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Chapter two is coming eventually it will be fluffier I swear.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It started as an accident. Well, not an accident but a slightly drunken and sad thing that Nile shouldn’t have done.  But she had his number and she needed to talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It started a few months ago when the dreams of Quynh changed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jolt back from death into the fluid darkness</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span> Feel the pressure forcing the brine into your lungs</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You have 5 counts of hammering on your iron coffin before you drown again</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Make them count</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bang</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Life is in 5 count bursts</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bang</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Not the smooth flow of waking and sleeping you’d known for a thousand years before</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bang</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>500 years in 5 counts</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bang *shiik*</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Did something just give?! It Gave! It Gave!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>BangbangBAngBANG Woossshhhh</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Free!! </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile gasps awake, breathing hard trying to remember the feeling of air. She takes a moment to bask in the glory that is oxygen before going to shake Andy awake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s out, Andy! Quynh is out!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After that it was a whirlwind of trying to find Quynh, all missions paused until further notice. They put Copely’s extensive information network to use and Nile started keeping a journal of her dreams hoping to find clues in the fragments. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Did you know that most of the ocean looks the same? That it’s incredibly hard to figure out coordinates from the stars if you only see them for 3 second bursts?? That it takes four god damn, mother fucking MONTHS for a ship to pass close enough to actually see and rescue someone??? Because Nile does, boy howdy does she ever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And of course it wasn't one of the ships they had contacts on looking for Quynh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So when Booker shows up in the dreams she is so damn relieved. Booker, she knows how to find. She runs into the kitchen of Copley's house where they've been staying since the dreams changed.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nicky is at the stove making breakfast, Joe and Copley are talking over coffee at the breakfast bar. Andy is at the kitchen table studying an ocean chart of some kind. They all look up as she runs in. “She’s with Booker. All we have to do is contact him and we have Quynh!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was where things got complicated. A small fist fight broke out in regards to whether any immortals would trackdown Booker (Andy was in favor, Nicky and Joe against) and a long story short that's how they found out Copley had been keeping track of Booker and already had his address and phone number. They decided he would go get Quynh. There was a...challenging adjustment period as she was integrating into the group but things settled eventually. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyway that's how Nile knew to hack into Copley's files to get Booker's contact info. She told herself it was incase of emergencies, but the truth was she just wanted to have it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That brings us to now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now is April 27th, 2021 in New York City and it’s been a great day. Everyone was really nice, they took her out to see the new Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, had a fancy dinner at Dorsia (it was almost impossible to get a table but Andy knew the owner), then came home and piled on the living room floor to watch New Girl reruns. When everyone fell asleep, Nile snuck out to the fire escape to make a phone call. This wasn’t the best idea but she was still a little tipsy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Vous avez atteint 01 89 55 57 28, veuillez laisser un message.” *</span>
  </em>
  <span>beeeep*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hi...It’s Nile… um, sorry I missed you but this might be easier. I do miss you, you know? I know I shouldn’t be calling but I...I’ve been wondering something and it’s been-</span>
  <em>
    <span>inhale, sigh</span>
  </em>
  <span>- it’s been eating at me.” She pauses for a while. Booker almost thinks the phone had been cut off but then she speaks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you lie to me?</span>
  <em>
    <span>sniff </span>
  </em>
  <span>“In the cave you said I couldn’t go home. That… my family would grow to hate me if they found out and it was better to stay with you. I believed you but then you sold our family down the river out of grief for your first family and I… don’t even know what I’m asking. I just...I just miss my momma,-</span>
  <em>
    <span>sniff- </span>
  </em>
  <span>It’s my birthday today and I usually call home but I can’t do that so... I called you... bye Booker, see you 2120 i guess, love you.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*beeeep* </span>
  <em>
    <span>Last new message. Press 1 to delete. Press 9 to save.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Booker pressed 9</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Vous avez atteint...veuillez laisser un message means You have reached... please leave a message.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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